Center guide support for refrigerator vegetable pan



May 15, 1956 R. J. CARBARY 2,745,710

CENTER GUIDE SUPPORT FOR REFRIGERATOR VEGETABLE PAN Filed Oct. 2l, 1953"-3 ff yl1 22 J 23 i L\#2l IM ENTOR.

RICHARD J. CARBARY BY HIS ATTORNEY United States Patent CENTER GUTDESUPPGRT FR REFRGERATGR VEQETABLE PAN Richard 5. Carbary, Findley Lake,N. Y., assigner to General Electric Company, a corporation of New YorkApplication October 21, 1953, Serial No. 387,440

9 Claims. (Cl. S12- 332) This invention relates to refrigerator cabinetsand, more particularly, to a resiliently mounted support means for thevegetable pans of a refrigerator cabinet.

Vegetable pans are normally disposed in the lower portion of the cabinetof a refrigerator in order to reduce the amount of moisture that hascollected therein. This positioning, however, results in making it morediicult to dispose the vegetable pans in their supports in the lowerportion of the refrigerator since it is not as easy to align thevegetable pan with the support means as it would be if the pan were on alevel with the users eyes. This invention satisfactorily solves thisproblem by resiliently mounting the support means disposed between thetwo vetetable pans. The resilient mounting of this support means permitsone of the guides to be movable so that the vegetable pan may be easilyinserted into its support means.

T he chief object of this invention is to provide a resilient supportfor the guides of a vegetable pan of a refrigerator cabinet.

Another object of this invention is to provide a support that willpermit vegetable pans to be easily disposed in their guides. Otherobjects of my invention will be readily perceived from the followingdescription.

This invention relates to a refrigerator cabinet including an innerliner having side walls and a bottom. Means is disposed on each of theside walls to provide guides. A resiliently mounted member extendsupwardly from the bottom of the inner liner and means is connected tothe member to provide a second set of guides. Containers are disposed inthe guides. Specifically, the resiliently mounted member includes tworods connected together by a resilient sleeve. The lower rod extendsthrough the bottom of the inner liner. The containers have flanges thatslide into the guides.

The attached drawing illustrates a preferred embodiment of my invention,in which Fig. l is a fragmentary sectional view of the lower portion ofthe food storage compartment of a refrigerator cabinet embodying thepresent invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view partly in section and partly in elevation ofthe present invention; and

Fig. 3 is an enlarged View partly in section and partly in elevationillustrating two positions of the present invention.

Referring to the drawing and more particularly to Fig. l, there is shownthe inner liner 2 of a refrigerator having a food storage compartment 3.Suitable insulation 4 is provided to insulate the inner liner from theouter case (not shown). The inner liner 2 has a bottom S and parallelside walls 6 and 7.

A stud member or bracket 8 is suitably mounted on the lower portion ofeach of the side walls 6 and 7 of the inner liner 2. Supported from eachof the stud members and connected thereto are angle members 9. Connectedto each of the angle members 9 by welding or brazing or other suitablemeans is the guide member 1G. This guide "ice member 10 is provided withan upper guide 11 and a lower guide 12.

A resilient support means 20 is disposed in the food storage compartment3 adjacent its access opening. The resilient support means 20 includes astud fastener 21 that is secured to the bottom 5 of an inner liner 2.The preferred manner of attaching the stud fastener 21 to the bottom 5is by passing the stud fastener through an opening 22 in the bottom 5.The stud fastener is preferably of the type that has a U-shaped wire 23connected thereto that will spring out after it has passed through theopening 22 in the bottom 5 to secure the stud fastener to the bottom S.A washer 24 surrounds the stud fastener 21 adjacent the bottom 5 toprevent leakage of moisture beyond the bottom 5 of the inner liner 2. Aflange member 25 surrounds the stud fastener 21 and is disposed abovethe Washer 24. This ange member is supported by the bottom 5 of theinner liner 2.

A resilient sleeve 26, preferably made of rubber, is supported by theange member 25 and surrounds the stud fastener. This sleeve 26 extendsfor a distance above the stud fastener 21, as clearly shown in Figs. 2and 3. The rod 27 fits inside the upper portion of the sleeve 26 and isclamped thereto by the resilience of the sleeve 26. This rod 27 issupported on the top of the stud fastener 21. The top of the rod 27 hasa horizontal member 2S secured thereto.

The horizontal member 28 supports two angle members 29 that are similarto angle members 9. Guide members 3i), similar to guide members 10, aresecured by welding or brazing or other suitable means to the two anglemembers 29 that are carried by the horizontal member 28. Each of theguide members 30 has an upper guide 31 and a lower guide 32.

One of the lower guides 32 of one of the guide members 3d is adapted tobe aligned with one of the lower guides 12 of the guide member 10 toreceive a vegetable pan or container titl. This pan or container hasanges 41 that are inserted in the lower guide 12 of guide member 10 andthe lower guide 32 of guide member 3i). T he cover 42 for the container40 is preferably made of glass to permit inspection of the contents oflthe container and is disposed in the upper guide 31 of guide member 36and the upper guide 11 of guide member 10. A similar vegetable pan 4)and cover 42 are disposed in the other guide members 16 and 3d. Thisrelationship is clearly shown in Fig. 1.

By resiliently mounting the rod 27, it may be easily moved to a positionsuch as shown in the dotted lines of Figs. 3. This resilient mounting ofthe rod 27 permits the guides 31 and 32 of a guide member 30 to be movedwith respect to the xed guides 11 and 12 of fixed guide member 19. Thus,it will be readily understood that the anges 41 of the container or panl0 may be easily inserted in the guides 12 and 32 since the guide 32 maybe moved to provide the desired alignment. Similariy, the cover 42 maybe more easily inserted in the guides 11 and 31.

This invention has the particular advantage of preventing chipping ofthe enamel of the inner liner 2 by insuring lthat the container may beeasily inserted in its guides. It will also be noted that thisparticular anangement prevents the accidental removal of the pan fromits guides. A further advantage of this invention is that the guides arereadily self aligning.

While the present invention has been described by reference to aparticular embodiment thereof, it will be understood that modificationsmay be made by those skilled in the art without actually departing fromthe invention. l, therefore, aim in the appended claims to cover allsuch variations as come within the true spirit and scope of theforegoing disclosure.

I claim:

l. In a refrigerated cabinet including an inner liner, said inner linerincluding side walls and a bottom, means disposed on each of the sidewalls to provide guides, a resiliently mounted member extending upwardlyfrom the bottom of said inner liner, means connected to said member toprovide guides, and containers adapted to be disposed in said guides.

2. in a refrigerated cabinet including an inner liner, said inner linerincluding side walls and a bottom, means disposed on each of the sidewalls to provide guides, a resiliently mounted member extending upwardlyfrom the bottom of said inner liner, means connected to said mernber toprovide guides, and containers adapted to be disposed in said guides,one of said containers being disposed between one of said guidesconnected to one of said side walls and one of said guides connected tosaid resilient member, the other of said containers being disposedbetween thc guide connected to the other side Wall and the other of saidguides connected to said resilient member.

3. In a refrigerated cabinet including an inner liner, said inner linerincluding side walls and a bottom, means providing a guide disposed oneach of the side walls, resiliently mounted support means extendingupwardly from tho bottom of the inner liner, said support means havingguides connected thereto, a pair of containers having fianges, saidcontainers being disposed in said cabinet by positioning said franges insaid guides.

in a refrigerated cabinet including an inner liner, said inner linerincluding side walls and a bottom, support means extending upwardly fromsaid bottom, said support means including a rod resiliently mounted anda horizontal member connected to the top of the rod, said horizontalmember being formed to receive two support members, each of said supportmembers having a guide connected thereto, and a guide supported fromeach of the side wails, one of the guides supported from one of the sidewalls cooperating with one of the guides of the rod to receive acontainer, the other of the guides supported from the other of the sidewalls cooperating with the second of the guides of the rod to receive asecond container.

5. in a refrigerated cabinet including an inner liner, said inner linerincluding side walls and a bottom, resilient support means extendingupwardly from said bottom, support members connected to said supportmeans, each of said support members having a guide, and a guidesupported from each of the side walls, one of the guides supported fromone of the side walls cooperating with one of the guides of thehorizontal support members to receive a container, the second of theguides supported from the other of the side walls cooperating with thesecond of the guides of the horizontal support members to receive asecond container.

6. In a refrigerated cabinet including an inner liner, said inner linerincluding side walls and a bottom, a stud fastener secured to saidbottom and extending upwardly therefrom, a resilient sleeve disposedabout the fastener and extending thereabove, a rod positioned on saidfastener and surrounded for a portion of its length by the portion ofthe sleeve that extends above the fastener, a horizontal memberconnected to the top of said rod, said horizontal member being formed toreceive two support members, each of said support members having a guideconnected thereto, and a guide supported from each of the side walls,one of the guides supported from one of the sid-e walls cooperating withone of the guides of the rod to receive a container, the second of theguides supported from the other of the side walls cooperating with thesecond of the guides of the rod to receive a second container.

7. A refrigerated cabinet according to claim 6 in which the resilientsleeve is made of rubber.

8. In a refrigerated cabinet, including an inner liner, said inner linerincluding side walls and a bottom, a stud fastener secured to saidbottom and extending upwardly therefrom, a resilient sleeve disposedabout the fastener and extending thcreabove, a rod positioned on saidfastener and surrounded for a portion of its length by the portion ofthe sleeve that extends above the fastener, means connected to the topof the rod to provide a pair of guides, a guide suppported from each ofthe side walls, one of the guides supported from one of the side wallscooperating with one of the guides of the means connected to the top ofthe rod to receive a container, the second of the guides supported fromthe other of the side walls cooperating with the second of the guides ofthe means connected to the top of the rod to receive a second container.

9. in a refrigerated cabinet including an inner liner, Asaid inner linerincluding side walls and a bottom, a stud fastener secured to saidbottom and extending upwardly therefrom, a rod resiliently supported bysaid stud fastener, means connected to the top of the rod to provide apair of guides, and a guide supported from each of the side walls, oneof the guides supported from one of the side walls cooperating with oneof the guides of the means connected to the top of the rod to receive acontainer, the second of the guides supported from the other of the sidewalls cooperating with the second of the guides of the means connectedto the top of the rod to receive a second container.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS317,157 Lowrie May 5, 1885 2,292,865 Boddy Aug. 1l, 1942 2,319,254fNeunherz May 1S, i943 2,478,017 Shoemaker Aug. 2, 1949 2,509,563 GrashowMay 30, 1950 2,520,975 Springer Sept. 5, 1950 2,585,304 Evans Feb. l2,1952 2,672,310 Rush Mar. 16, 1954

